2010-11 NBA Blogosphere Previews: Denver Nuggets
Posted by Neil Paine on October 27, 2010
Welcome to our 2010-11 NBA Blogosphere Previews, in which we contact the finest team bloggers on the web and ask them to contribute their thoughts on the squad they cover. What follows is their take, along with the team's depth chart (courtesy of ESPN.com), projected 2011 stats via our Simple Projection System, and polls where you get to have your say. Enjoy!
Denver Nuggets
Coach: George Karl
2010 Summary:
Record: 53-29, Finished 1st in NBA Northwest Division
SRS: 4.15 (8th of 30) ▪ Pace: 94.8 (5th of 30)
Off Rtg: 111.8 (3rd of 30) ▪ Def Rtg: 107.5 (16th of 30)
Expected W-L: 52-30 (8th of 30)
2011 Depth Chart (with 2010-11 projected per-36 minute stats ... yellow = newcomer)
| Pos | Player | Age | PTS | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | FG% | 3PM | 3P% | FT% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PG | Chauncey Billups | 34 | 19.2 | 3.3 | 6.1 | 1.2 | 0.2 | 2.5 | 0.416 | 2.1 | 0.387 | 0.907 |
| PG | Ty Lawson | 23 | 15.1 | 3.8 | 5.4 | 1.3 | 0.1 | 2.2 | 0.519 | 1.0 | 0.411 | 0.765 |
| PG | Anthony Carter | 35 | 8.6 | 4.0 | 6.7 | 1.7 | 0.4 | 2.7 | 0.428 | 0.6 | 0.275 | 0.753 |
| SG | Arron Afflalo | 25 | 11.7 | 4.3 | 2.1 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 1.2 | 0.463 | 1.6 | 0.426 | 0.763 |
| SG | J.R. Smith | 25 | 20.2 | 4.4 | 3.4 | 1.6 | 0.3 | 2.4 | 0.434 | 2.8 | 0.367 | 0.731 |
| SF | Carmelo Anthony | 26 | 25.5 | 6.6 | 3.2 | 1.2 | 0.4 | 2.9 | 0.462 | 0.9 | 0.339 | 0.818 |
| SF | Renaldo Balkman | 26 | 11.4 | 8.5 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 1.7 | 0.504 | 0.3 | 0.230 | 0.604 |
| PF | Al Harrington | 30 | 20.3 | 6.6 | 1.8 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 2.1 | 0.435 | 2.3 | 0.351 | 0.767 |
| PF | Kenyon Martin | 33 | 12.7 | 8.5 | 2.0 | 1.4 | 1.2 | 1.7 | 0.470 | 0.2 | 0.314 | 0.580 |
| PF | Shelden Williams | 27 | 12.8 | 9.0 | 1.4 | 1.0 | 1.2 | 2.0 | 0.480 | 0.1 | 0.302 | 0.750 |
| C | Nene Hilario | 28 | 15.2 | 8.3 | 2.3 | 1.4 | 1.2 | 1.8 | 0.584 | 0.0 | 0.293 | 0.710 |
| C | Chris Andersen | 32 | 10.2 | 10.1 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 3.2 | 1.4 | 0.542 | 0.1 | 0.266 | 0.700 |
2010-11 Blogger Outlook by Jeremy Wagner, roundballminingcompany.com
Anything and everything is in play for the Denver Nuggets in 2010-11. Denver returns all of their top eight players from the previous season while George Karl has won his second bout with cancer and is back patrolling the sideline. The Nuggets will be without Kenyon Martin and Chris “Birdman” Andersen due to dueling knee surgeries for part of the season, but Denver added Al Harrington to help hold down the fort. Harrington is a versatile offensive minded big man who can play all three frontcourt positions.
Denver’s veteran core is as talented as anyone and on paper the Nuggets are poised to make one more run at the Lakers in the Western Conference. In order to recapture the magic from the 2008-09 playoff run Denver will have to get back to playing defense. Last season the Nuggets dropped from eighth in defensive efficiency to sixteenth. Even where the Nuggets were mocked for their porous defense, they were always a top ten defensive team.
Of course you just wasted a minute of your life reading up to this point. Everyone, save for the most close minded Nuggets fans, knows Carmelo wants out of Denver and sooner or later Denver will pull the trigger. Once Denver and Carmelo part ways no remaining Nugget should be untouchable and as a result a team built to be a playoff contender will likely free fall into a hoarder of ping pong balls.
Poll Time